| The Solution | ||
AVAN has two main services: an online Library to access the content, and a Digital Repository Service (DRS) where archives can store and preserve their digital files. The Library is an aggregated resource of primary source audio and moving image content contributed by any type of archive: university-based, museums, broadcasters, stock footage libraries, performing arts collections, individual creators, etc. The Library has two sites: a public site with lower-resolution files and basic metadata that also functions as a network for postings from the community; and an educational subscription site with higher-resolution files, controlled vocabularies for efficient searching, powerful tools such as visual and voice recognition to access content, user-generated tag creation at the clip level, reporting functions such as timelines and statistics, and federated searching to sites outside AVAN. Archives choose where their content is accessed, even at the item level. AVAN is not exclusive. Archives are encouraged to make their content available in as many places as they can to broaden access points and enhance discovery. AVAN’s value as an historical and scholarly resource is in its aggregate and unique suite of tools.The ability to search across all types of related content—news, oral histories, radio broadcasts, interviews, home movies, performance documentation, etc.—using sophisticated tools created for accessing time-based content will revolutionize the way primary source audiovisual content is researched and used. The Digital Repository Service (DRS) is a trusted digital repository where non-profit organizations and individual creators can store and have their digital masters preserved by a low-cost service dedicated to time-based content. Files are verified and authenticated. Technical, preservation, and rights data are added to the DRS database, and stored with descriptive data and the digital object “essence” file (e.g., the actual audio or video content file) in an open MXF wrapper. (AVAN will create an open archival MXF specification as part of the prototype project, and share it with the community.) Files contributed by an archive will be copied to two sets of LTO digital tape using an open source backup application. Tape copies will be geographically dispersed to two locations. Within a 5-year cycle, the files will be re-verified, then copied to LTO tape two generations above the previous LTO generation. All the migration work is tracked in a database. The DRS database will also flag file formats that appear close to obsolescence. Archives holding these endangered formats will be notified and asked whether AVAN should migrate or transcode these files to a next-generation file format, while also saving the original format. All these actions will be tracked so the provenance and history of a file’s creation will be clear. |
Who will use AVAN? Archives Filmmakers Schools and Universities Video and Sound Artists Students Researchers Scholars General public Libraries Broadcasters Studios Museums Radio Arts Centers Production Organizations Everyone |
|
|
||